Thanks Greg, I think Elspeth looks pretty cool today too. Yesterday she looked like a large orange cartoon crab for hours till I figured out how to change her.... it's completely customisable. (No pictures of that )

I would like to try to rebuild her as a Sim.

It's hacked. The owner of the lot pays them to sit on his chairs. Sometimes in front of a casino slot machine! sometimes, as with these and another place I go to a lot, lying on a beach or sitting on a squishy cushion drinking beer. It isn't a lot of money but to a n00b it is essential.

Folks sitting on the chairs adds to the ambience, makes the places look busy when really they aren't - and most of these places have LOADS of stuff for you to spend you $$ on when you have earned them. Everything can be bought. And I mean everything, including the extra bits Crammyboy specialises in and a lot of stuff that simply isn't available anywhere for Sims 2 or Sims. I saw a (beautifully made, silk but I've seen better for Sims 2) lovebed today for about £10 real money, thousands of Linden $$. Comes with custom anims of course.

But that said, there are loads of folks giving stuff away to newbies, so you can get most things you can't make cheap or free. Even whole houses. Land to put them on is difficult though. So they go in your inventory and come out when you find a (temporary) campsite. Unless you have oodles of dosh.

By the way, I think it's naughty of 2L to imply in their advertising that newbies get land by right,and that is how I read their website. What actually happens is that land entrepreneurs snap it all up with alts as soon as it is relelased for sale. So a paid account is actually very little better off than a free account, at least as it stands at the moment. Had a big discussion with one of the devs about this today. But they are accessible people, much easier than trying to post on EA's bbs. This guy actually had a meeting for anyone to go to, in a "real" place ingame. And me, as a newbie, he treated very gently and kindly, in between all the long-term players and devs that were there.

Nice to find a game where the paid-up players are treated with respect. After my experiences with EA, it feels very very good.